Practical Technology

for practical people.

December 29, 2008
by sjvn01
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Hands-on Linux: New versions of Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE push the envelope

When you’re talking Linux, three big names always pop up: Canonical’s Ubuntu, Novell’s openSUSE and Red Hat’s Fedora. Ubuntu has ridden a groundswell of both consumer and commercial support to its current ranking as the most popular Linux distribution. OpenSUSE, with its business underpinnings, has always been popular in Europe and has been making inroads in the U.S. And it is largely thanks to Fedora that Red Hat has become the biggest Linux company with a major role in community Linux.

Each of these “big three” has recently released a new version of its distribution, which means it’s time to check them out and decide which is No 1. Or, more properly, which is No. 1 for what user.

To test them, I installed each distro on a Dell Inspiron 530S powered by a 2.2-GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor with an 800-MHz front-side bus. The test machine had 4GB of RAM, a 500GB SATA (Serial ATA) drive, and an Integrated Intel 3100 GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) chip set. This is a standard 2008 computer, which retails for approximately $450.

I also ran each distribution on other PCs to get an idea as to how they worked on a day-to-day basis. For example, I ran openSUSE on a Lenovo ThinkPad R61, Fedora on a Gateway GT5622 desktop and Ubuntu on an older Gateway 503GR desktop.

The Linux distros all had several things in common. First, installing each of them was a no-brainer. I popped in the CD, DVD or (in Fedora’s case) a USB memory stick; got the computer to boot from the installation media; agreed on the time zone, the keyboard type and the new username; and then had a cup or two of coffee. At the end, each distribution was installed and ready to go.

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December 29, 2008
by sjvn01
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Recording the Linux desktop — the hard way

I can do many things with the greatest of ease on the Linux desktop. But, as I discovered while doing my community Linux overview, recording a Linux desktop video isn’t one of them. Oh, boy, is it ever not one of them.

My first problem was that I’d never done screen video recording before on any platform. I’d heard about Windows screen recorders such as TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio and Blueberry Software’s BB FlashBack, but I hadn’t heard of an equivalent program for Linux.

There was a good reason for that. There isn’t a full-featured screen video recorder for desktop Linux. Well, except for DemoRecorder from Christian Linhart Software that purports to do everything I needed — but both its code and its video format is proprietary. Not only that, but I couldn’t get it to work on my test systems. I abandoned it and moved on

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December 24, 2008
by sjvn01
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AIR on Linux test run

AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) is a cross-operating system runtime that lets you use rich Internet applications that combine HTML, Ajax, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Flex technologies. What that means to you and me is that it’s lets us run another kind of application on our Internet-connected Windows PCs, Macs, and just this month, Linux desktop computers.

I’m not crazy about AIR. It’s not the first, or one-hundred and first, application layer software to make it possible to run the same application on multiple platforms. Java, JavaScript, etc. etc. have all had their day in the sun and more recently Silverlight/Moonlight, JavaFX, and Appcelerator Titanium have thrown their hats in the ring. That said. AIR applications are remarkably fast and reasonably mature.

We’re already seeing a fair number of non-trivial, useful AIR programs like the Google Analytics Reporting Suite, the twhrl social network client, and RichFLV, a Flash video editor. And, now, in addition to Windows and Mac OS, you can run AIR and its applications on Linux as well.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that getting AIR to install on your Linux desktop can be troublesome and, once in place, installing AIR applications is a bit of a security worry.

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December 22, 2008
by sjvn01
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Good-bye hard drive? Will PC hard-disks die next year?

I’m old enough to remember when some of the first hard drives, such as the IBM Winchester-two disks with 30MBs each, hence 30/30, thus Winchester after the 30/30 rifle-showed up. I can also recall using cassette-tapes and 8-inch floppy disks on PCs. I’ve met people in their twenties who are unclear about what cassette-tapes are exactly and floppy disks are rapidly falling away from our collective memory. Now, it looks like hard-drives will soon be following them into history’s dustbin.

Sound impossible? Actually it’s all too possible. SSD (Solid State Drives) have gone from being small and pricey to being roomy and affordable. At the year’s beginning, you could only find 4 and 8GB SSDs on inexpensive, Linux-powered netbooks or a 64GB SSD on the expensive Rolls-Royce of laptops, the Macbook Air.

As 2008 comes to a close though. It’s a different story. The drives are getting bigger and cheaper. 128GB drives are now common, 256GBs are on their way, and Toshiba will soon be selling 512GB drives.

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December 21, 2008
by sjvn01
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XP just won’t die

Microsoft will never admit that Vista was a major mistake, but it was. People who tried it, hated it. Businesses have stuck with XP, or are moving to Macs or desktop Linux. Microsoft knows it too. That’s why Microsoft is, out of the public limelight, enabling white-box computer manufacturers to keep selling XP well into 2009.

What Microsoft is doing this time is its letting the smaller distributors and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) — not the major PC vendors like HP and Dell — place their final orders for Windows XP OEM licenses by Jan. 31, 2009, and take delivery of those orders through May 30.

For you, that means you’ll be able to keep buying XP Pro on your PCs well into the fall of 2009. You may need to ask for it, you may have to pay more, but it will be available.

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December 18, 2008
by sjvn01
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Bye-Bye Macworld, Brainshare, CES

Back in pre-history when I started writing about technology, that is to say the 1980s, trade shows were the place to find out what going on. My how things have changed. Brainshare, Novell’s big show, has been canned. Steve Jobs isn’t showing up for Macworld, and Apple is pulling out of the show next year.

Well, they say they won’t be there, but without Apple I’d be amazed if there was a Macworld for Apple not to attend.

I’ve seen this coming from years down the road. In 1999 and 2000, Comdex, which was the techie trade show had more than 200,000 attendees. It was a city within the city of Las Vegas. The Comdex shows were where Bill Gates introduced Windows 95, 98, 2000, and XP. It was the show where Microsoft Windows became Windows the force. And, in spring 1999, when Linus Torvalds and Bill Gates virtually faced off with each other at Comdex, it was, in many ways, Linux’s coming of age. By 2004, Comdex was dead.

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